Welcome to Litsy!

Still two months behind with March and April's books... so keeping the under 200 pages list of books from my library for June.

#bookspin

Stintzi‘s poetry is a beautiful expression of the many ways that identity is not static. The way we define ourselves is a process, always shifting. I connected with the metaphors of origami and paper used throughout. Stintzi credits Wallace Stevens and Allen Ginsberg as inspiration and quotes some of their poems throughout the collection. I loved everything about this book and I know I will revisit it.

#poetry #nonbinary #gender

For #BigJuneReadathon I need to read/skim some books for homeschool planning. We‘re transitioning out of the grammar stage and I need to see what comes next! I‘m also starting my #PicklesChallenge Don Quixote. I really want to do some fun reading, too, and try to enjoy summer break as much as possible. Kiddo‘s still a busy bee, which is a mixed blessing for my reading time.

My June #bookspin ! #doublespin #bookspinbingo

Poems questioning gender identity, set during a year of living in isolation/exile and dealing with mental health issues. Trans nonbinary author John Elizabeth Stintzi uses vivid imagery—cardinals, waterfowl, butterflies—as they write about making sense of oneself and coming to terms with living in a particular body. Highly recommend. #LGBTQ+ #Poetry #CanadianAuthor

Sometimes I wonder
if I‘m really the best
person for this body.

[…]

I‘d like to see my body
with someone else in it.
I just want to see it happy.

-Salutations from the Storm

Through the invention of the Junebat — a contradictory, evolving, ever-perplexing creature — Stintzi is able to create a self-defined space within the poems where they can reside comfortably, beyond the firm boundaries of the gender binary or the plethora of identities gathered under the queer umbrella.

As the speaker of the poems begins to emerge from their depression, the second wing of the book tracks their falling in love